Monday, March 19, 2012

Speaking as a physician, and as someone who was involved in a genomics project two years ago, I find this astounding. It's a snapshot of Medicine 2020, or perhaps Medicine 2030 - with a slice of Big (BIG) Data on the side. Notice the project had one subject (the lead researcher) and 40 collaborators ...

... Over a 14-month period, the molecular geneticist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, analyzed his blood 20 different times to pluck out a wide variety of biochemical data depicting the status of his body's immune system, metabolism, and gene activity. In today's issue of Cell, Snyder and a team of 40 other researchers present the results ... an integrative personal omics profile (iPOP) ... genomics (study of one's DNA), metabolomics (study of metabolism), and proteomics (study of proteins)...

... Snyder, now 56, says he began the study 2 years ago because of a slew of technological advances that make it feasible to view the working of the body more intimately than ever before. "The way we're practicing medicine now seems woefully inadequate," he says. "When you go to the doctor's office and they do a blood test, they typically measure no more than 20 things. With the technology out there now, we feel you should be able to measure thousands if not tens of thousands if not ultimately millions of things. That would be a much clearer picture of what's going on."

... Snyder had a cold at the first blood draw, which allowed the researchers to track how a rhinovirus infection alters the human body in perhaps more detail than ever before. The initial sequencing of his genome had also showed that he had an increased risk for type 2 diabetes ... later became infected with respiratory syncytial virus, and his group saw that a sharp rise in glucose levels followed almost immediately...

A physician later diagnosed Snyder with type 2 diabetes, leading him to change his diet and increase his exercise. It took 6 months for his glucose levels to return to normal...

The serendipity of capturing the evolution of type II DM resembles many 'happy accidents' in medical history. This will energize an already very active research program on RSV and DM II. Vaccine development for DM II susceptible adults will become much more interesting, and of course there will be a need to closely follow children who develop RSV infection.

There will be a lot more like this. It's potentially Nobel class work.